ABC on Wednesday added to its comedy pilot haul with a pair of family half-hours.
The network handed out pickups to Charlie Foxtrot and Splitting Up Together.
Splitting Up Together, which received a hefty put-pilot commitment back in August, brings Suburgatory creator Emily Kapnek back to the network. Based on Mette Heeno’s 2016 Danish series, the single-camera comedy revolves around a couple whose marriage is reignited by their divorce.
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Kapnek will pen the script and executive produce via her Piece of Pie banner alongside Ellen DeGeneres and her A Very Good Production banner topper Jeff Kleeman. The project hails from Warner Bros. Television, where both DeGeneres and Kapnek are under overall deals. Heeno, Hella Joof and Mie Andreasen are also credited as exec producers.
Charlie Foxtrot, meanwhile, also landed at the network in September with a sizable put-pilot commitment. The single-camera comedy is written by American Housewife‘s Sam Sklaver and centers on Capt. Charlie Taylor, a cautious, lovable dentist stationed at Fort Bragg who promises to look after his brother’s impulsive fiancée and her two misfit teens while his sibling is deployed in Iraq.
Charlie Foxtrot (military slang for clusterf—) reteams Sklaver with American Housewife’s Aaron Kaplan, whose Kapital Entertainment is also on board to exec produce. Sklaver, Kaplan and Dana Honor will exec produce the ABC Studios comedy.
Charlie Foxtrot marks Kaplan’s leading fourth pilot this season, joining Fox’s Linda From HR as well as CBS’ 9J, 9K, and 9L and Me, Myself and I. It’s also the fourth military-themed pilot pickup (and first comedy) this season, joining CBS’ untitled Navy SEALs project, NBC’s For God and Country and Fox’s Behind Enemy Lines reboot.
For ABC, Wednesday’s pickups bring the network’s comedy tally to six — half of last year’s half-hour haul. ABC is expected to see its orders on par with last year, though comedy may be reduced given the number of half-hours that are working on the Disney-owned broadcaster’s schedule.
Family comedies continue to be the bread and butter backbone of ABC’s comedy brand and a popular genre as broadcast networks look for new stories that haven’t been represented on the small screen.
Keep track of the latest news and castings at THR.com/PilotSeason and bookmark THR‘s handy guide.
